Episode Details

This week Paul and Harrison discuss NASA revising the Starliner contract to cargo-only missions due to quality issues and propulsion leaks, contrasting this with the quick astronaut recovery of the Chinese Shenzhou 22 mission, while also addressing the significant setback to human spaceflight capacity caused by damage to the Russian Soyuz MS-28 mission pad. They cover the successful launches of the Boeing-manufactured Viasat 3 F2, the contract for OmanSat-1 geocommunication satellite, and the competitive landscape with companies like Thales and Airbus against new entrants such as Astranis and AscendArc, as well as growth in ground station and optical relay markets with Astrolight and Gilat Satellite Networks. The discussion concluded by noting the ESA ministerial's €22.1 billion funding pledge, new contracts for in-orbit servicing to Orbit Fab and Infinite Orbits, and advancements in radiation-hardened electronics by BAE Systems and thermal infrared imaging technology with the Hibiscus imager, alongside Blue Origin's entry into the Space Domain Awareness market with the Blue Ring spacecraft and ACME Space's plans for a balloon-launched orbital manufacturing vehicle.